When Steve Stricker gave Tiger Woods a 45-minute putting lesson before a PGA Tour event in March, and Woods won four days later with the second-fewest putts (100) by any player this season — defeating Stricker by two shots in the process — the public reaction was as if Stricker had leaked State Department secrets.

Aid the enemy? What in the world?

Reaction inside the tour, however, was a ho-hum shrug. Players help each other all the time during practice; advice given during competition is against the rules. Woods is just the biggest name in the game, so Stricker’s tip made the biggest news.

“It’s not a no-no. Some people make too big of a deal about it,” said Scott Stallings, adding that he asked Stricker for putting tips at the Shell Houston Open in March. “There are some guys who are more than willing to help, and some guys would rather you struggle on your own.”

Include Ross Fisher in the latter group. The Englishman wonders why anyone would hurt his chances to win by helping another player win.

The majority view, however, is that helping another golfer fix a flaw in his swing or setup is part of the game. And that the risk of having a tip come back to bite you is minimal.

“The way I look at it, if I’m playing my best, I’m going to have a chance to win, and if I’m not, then I’m going to get run over,” Brendan Steele said. “So the chances of me giving you a tip, and me playing my best, and your best is one shot better than me, is not that high.”

Even if it would happen, the attitude seems to be that the give-and-take works itself out over the long haul.

“If you’re going to offer advice, then somebody will help you, too. Over the course of a career, it will even out,” said Jack Nicklaus, who had “countless” players point out blind spots in his game.

“And anytime I’ve seen something on them, I say, ‘Hey, that doesn’t look very good. You might want to think about this,’ ” Nicklaus said. “I try to never say, ‘You should do this, but instead, ‘See if this makes sense to you.’ ”

Nicklaus mentioned a backyard putting lesson he received from former player Deane Beman, who went on to become commissioner of the PGA Tour.

“I won my first PGA (Championship) in Florida in 1971. I had been playing practice rounds with Deane, and we’re having dinner one night at my house. I used to have Astroturf around my pool, and Deane says, ‘Come out here. I want you to make a couple putts, and I want to show you something.’

“And I changed my putting stroke for that tournament and won.”

Zach Johnson enjoyed a similar experience. Playing at the Texas Open in 2008 after a six-week layoff, he was on the practice green when Chris DiMarco called over to him.

“He said, ‘What are you doing? You’re way too close to the ball,’ ” Johnson said. “So I got a little further from the ball with my putter and started to see the putts going in, and I won. That tip freed me up.”

Lending a hand does involve protocol, especially if the one receiving the tip is not a close friend. Most players don’t offer advice unless asked, as challenging as that can be because, as Dicky Pride put it, “We’re all convinced we’re the biggest genius there ever was, and we’re the ones who have figured out the golf swing. So we’re going to tell you what we do.”

Tour players play so many practice rounds together and spend so much time on the driving range that they become familiar with each other’s games.

“Most of us go back to the Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour days, where we were on the range and struggling and asking, ‘What do you think?’ ” Bo Van Pelt said.

Kevin Sutherland pointed out that golf also is unique in that it is as much player vs. course as player vs. player.

“At the end of the day, you are competing against other guys, but you always feel like if you shoot a good number, you’re going to have a good week,” Sutherland said. “It’s all about the number.”

Advice is not always an act of charity.

“Strick has worked with me on my putting ever since he and I played in the Shark Shootout” in 2009, Jerry Kelly said. “He was my partner, and he wanted to see the ball go in the hole.”

What do golf instructors think of the player-to-player tips? Depends on the specifics of the advice.

Sean Foley, who works with Woods, takes no issue with anyone helping one of his players on the practice green. But it is a different story if drastic changes are being tested on the driving range.

“I would always kibosh that,” Foley said. “But if Jordan Spieth is on the putting green and Steve Stricker comes up and says he’d like to take a look at your putting? Even though Stricker is not a coach? No problem. He just has an eye for putting. He would teach it more as a doer, as an artist, rather than what’s changing in the path and angle of attack.”

Foley finished his thought by shaking his head at how much has been made of the Woods-Stricker teaching lesson.